I wonder about this assessment. Anybody know anything about it?CHINESE students have blitzed their debut performance in a respected international exam in which Australian students from immigrant backgrounds topped their classes.
Australia's overall performance in the tests, the results of which were published last night, has declined in maths and reading, but remains among the highest in the world.
The exams, held every three years by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, assess the proficiency of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science. The latest tests, conducted last year, were taken by almost 470,000 students in 65 countries and economies.
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For the first time China was represented, with more than 5000 students from Shanghai sitting the exams and topping the global league tables in each of the three subjects. Singapore and Hong Kong also placed in the top five in all subjects.
Australian students scored above the OECD average in each of the subjects, finishing ninth in reading, 10th in science and 15th in maths.
But Australia's average scores in reading were down 13 points on 2000, when the subject was first tested, and its maths scores slipped 10 points from 2003, when it was first included in the Program for International Student Assessment.
Both drops are equivalent to between a quarter and a third of a year of learning.
Australia's performance in science was unchanged from 2006, when it was first assessed.
How are students chosen to take it?
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